Warning: This story contains spoilers from “Game of Thrones” Season 6, Episode 4

Season 6 of “Game of Thrones” is dramatically demonstrating that the female characters are the backbone of the show. With the men seeming diffident and unsure of themselves, it’s up to the women of the Seven Kingdoms to keep the story moving — and the actresses involved seem ready for the challenge.

The strength of the “Thrones” women is most powerfully felt in the fiery climax to Sunday night’s episode, titled “Book of the Stranger.” Mother of dragons Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) faces down Khal Moro (Joe Naufahu) and his bloodriders, who were ready to abuse her over and over again. “None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. So I will,” she tells them. Shortly thereafter, she tips a flaming urn and starts an inferno that burns Moro and his fellow warriors to a macho crisp.

If that display of moxie was not enough, Daenerys emerges naked from the burning inferno and stands before the enthralled Dothraki, who fall to their knees, ready to worship. If viewers needed another reason to suspect that Daenerys will ultimately ascend the Iron Throne, this scene made a lasting impression.

But Sunday’s episode also proved the HBO drama’s female characters can rule without burning down the house. Back at Castle Black, the nasty Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) sends a letter to Jon Snow (Kit Harington) declaring that he has his brother Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson) in a dungeon and will skin him alive — among other atrocities — if Snow does not return his bride, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), to him. When a reluctant Snow admits he doesn’t have the manpower to battle Bolton’s army of 5,000, it is Sansa who convinces him to man up and seize what is rightfully his. “You’re the son of the last true Warden of the North,” she says. “Northern families are loyal. They’ll fight for you if you ask. A monster has taken our home and our brother. We have to go back to Winterfell and save them both.”

Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), imprisoned for what seems like forever, has also shown herself as much a warrior as she is a queen. Resisting the High Sparrow’s (Jonathan Pryce) attempts to get her to repent for her sins, she is nevertheless reunited with her brother Loras (Finn Jones), who is so demoralized by Sparrow’s punishment that he’s ready to surrender. Margaery urges her mud-covered sibling to fight back the way she has.

Margaery’s struggle is also uppermost on the mind of her husband, King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman), but it’s Tommen’s mama, Cersei (Lena Headey), who develops a plan — with her brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) — to liberate Margaery from Sparrow. Imploring Margaery’s mother, Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg), to allow the House of Tyrell’s army into King’s Landing, where they can put a stop to Sparrow before he makes the queen endure the same Walk of Shame that Cersei suffered through, Cersei proves a skillful negotiator.

There are risks involved in their plan, to be sure — mainly a civil war. While Kevan Lannister (Ian Gelder) urges caution, again it’s a woman, this time Olenna, who is resolute. “Many people will die no matter what we do,” she says. “Better them than us.”

The men on “Game of Thrones” may pick up their muskets, mount their horses and physically fight the wars, but it’s the women who know how and when to wage them. As we approach the midpoint of Season 6, it will be fascinating to see how their courage is rewarded.